As the name indicates, cream cheese is made from pure cream or from mixtures of cream and milk. It has a rich, mildly acidic flavor and a smooth buttery consistency. Traditional methods of manufacturing standard of identity cream cheese start with a cream and milk mixture that is pasteurized, homogenized, and then coagulated using a lactic bacterial culture. The curd is then heated to 125° F.-145° F. (52-63° C.), drained, and hot-packed or cold-packed. Federal Standard of Identity cream cheese is made using this traditional method and the finished product must have a butterfat content of at least about 33% by weight, a total milk solids content of at least about 45% by weight, and not more than 55% moisture by weight (21 C.F.R. §133.133).
Standard of identity cream cheese is stored at refrigerated temperatures and has a thick consistency that is generally similar to butter at refrigerated (32° F.-45° F.) through room (65° F.-75° F.) temperatures, and is not considered flowable (i.e. it is a solid). This makes the product difficult to spread immediately after being removed from a refrigerated environment, for example, for consumption by a consumer on a product such as a bagel or bread. It is also generally difficult to work with in both home and commercial baking applications, for example for use in cheese cake. Conventional cream cheeses are typically only flowable when heated to temperatures above 110° F.
More recent methods of whey-less cream cheese type product manufacturing have been proposed. In these processes, the cream-and-milk mixture has the total solids composition of the cheese. The mixture is also pasteurized, homogenized, and incubated with a lactic bacterial culture at about 86° F. (30° C.). The solidified mixture is then homogenized again and generally packed without cooling. Products which have not been made by the traditional procedure but which meet the standard of identity requirements may be termed “cream cheese” but have a softer, more spreadable consistency due to a higher lactose and lower protein content. However, these products typically exhibit softer textures, burnt surfaces, and undercooked appearances in baking applications. Recently cream cheese manufacturers have began to lower the fat and solids content of their products to get to a softer consistency and terms such as “cream cheese food” or “cream cheese spread” are used.
Soft bodied cream cheese spreads have been formed by non-standard of identity processes by blending a cultured cream cheese dressing with a firm bodied cream cheese curd having homogenized milk fat. The resulting cream cheese can be flowable at refrigerated temperatures. However, cream cheeses made by this method are similarly not suitable for baking applications.
It would be desirable to provide a standard of identity cream cheese product that is flowable at refrigerated temperatures.